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xviii. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

A PROMISE.
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A LARGE BLACK DOG walked down the corridor leading to the Gryffindor tower. His tongue was hanging out, and his tail wagged slightly as a rat scurried beside him. The two animals reached the end of the corridor together, but the rat stopped at the turn. He cocked his head to the side slightly, and the dog peeked around the corner.

An almost human smile spread across the dog's face. Wagging his tail one last time, his body shifted slowly until, standing in his place was Sirius Black. Sirius glanced down at the rat, gave him a reassuring smile, and walked down the corridor to greet Briar.

"I hope you weren't waiting too long," he called out cheerfully. Briar turned around slowly, not showing any signs of surprise. Sirius couldn't help but grin. She'd clearly been expecting him, or the sudden voice would have startled her.

Briar raised her eyebrows. "You think way too highly of yourself."

Sirius shrugged, leaning against the wall beside her. They looked at each other, Briar's mouth curving upwards slightly. She seemed to be remembering something amusing.

"What?" Sirius asked her.

"I was just thinking about what happened to Rookwood at dinner today. Funny, wasn't it? I wonder who could possibly dislike him quite so much..."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Thank you would be sufficient."

Briar smiled at him fully then, the small dimples in the corners of her cheeks more visible than ever. Sirius felt the urge to reach out and poke one with his finger. "In that case , thank you. I don't think I've laughed that hard in quite a while. It was very sweet of you."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Oh, and now who's flattering themselves? You assume that I did it for you. I'm sorry if you saw it that way."

Briar raised her eyebrows. There was an almost mischievous glint in her eyes, something that Sirius had never seen before. He found that he rather liked it. She folded her arms across her chest, smiling.

"Here's what I see, Black. You sneak out of your dorm at night just to talk to me. You try to gift me expensive jewellery. You take the blame in Potions, even though it's my fault. And you play a prank on a boy just because he tripped me in the hall. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems you fancy me."

Sirius stared at her, open-mouthed. The familiarity of the words shocked him, as well as the teasing tone in her voice. Was this Briar D'Alessio flirting with him? What had gotten into her? Sirius found himself almost speechless. "Did you just-"

"Yet for some reason you won't admit it," she continued, the smile on her face growing wider as she took in his expression. "Why? Is it because I'm a pureblood?"

Sirius stared at her for a few seconds, before the two of them started laughing. Their laughter echoed in the empty corridor, and they both stopped rather quickly. Sirius found himself unable to drop the smile.

"I'm proud of you Briar," he said, as she grinned back at him. "It seems that you're learning rather well. What brought on the sudden change?"

Briar shrugged lightly. She opened her mouth to speak, but her eyes fixed on something behind his back and she let out a small yelp instead. Surprised, Sirius turned around to see Peter scuttle across the corridor in his animagus form.

"Was that a rat?" Briar asked, her voice laced with disgust and a tinge of worry. Sirius found the look on her face amusing.

"Why? You're not scared, are you?"

"What? No!" Briar insisted, sounding rather defensive. "I just don't like them. Who does? Disgusting, diseased little- Merlin, there it is again!"

Sirius couldn't resist a laugh this time. She'd actually jumped and grabbed his arm. Briar's nails were neatly cut, or the action could have been quite painful for him. "Who knew? The Slytherin ice princess is afraid of rats."

Briar released his arm, giving him a dark look. "Don't call me that. And I'm not afraid of rats, I just dislike them. My brother had one in his first year, and the disgusting creature got into my closet and nibbled holes in all my clothes. I've never seen one in Hogwarts before, or I'd have complained about it."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Well, perhaps you'd be better off in Beauxbatons, then. I doubt that they have rats running around."

"No, that school has a different sort of vermin entirely."

"Nothing satisfies you, does it?"

Briar rolled her eyes lightly, before turning to look at him. He'd tilted his head to the side, and she suddenly noticed a long red mark near the side of his neck. It looked like a scratch, and Briar grabbed hold of his chin, tilting it so she could see it better.

"You're not going to kiss me, are you?" Sirius joked, surprised at her sudden proximity.

"Shut up. You're bleeding, there's a cut on your neck. Haven't you even noticed?"

Sirius frowned, reaching up to touch his neck and then making a face when his fingers came away with a little bit of blood. "Oh this? It's nothing, it um... happened earlier. I fell."

Briar raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "I'm not an idiot, Black. That doesn't look like you fell, it looks like something scratched you. I'd say it was a claw mark."

"You didn't let me finish. I fell in the dormitory and erm, I landed on James' owl. It freaked out a little and started clawing at my face. It's a little temperamental, doesn't like anybody, much. I don't think James feeds it enough."

Sirius watched as the disbelief left her face, and almost breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't look entirely convinced, but she wasn't going to question him. He frowned, however, when she removed her hand from his chin. "Come on, then. We'll go down to the Hospital Wing."

Sirius's face turned white. He couldn't let her drag him to the Hospital Wing, Remus was there with James! Eyes widening, he tried to think quickly. "What? Why would I need the Hospital Wing? It's just a scratch, it'll be fine."

"No, it won't. It might get infected."

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Then why don't you heal it yourself? Madame Pomfrey seems to think you're rather good at healing spells and the like, doesn't she? It's all right, I trust you."

Briar gave him an odd look. "It's not a matter of whether or not you trust me. I do know a spell that could heal that, but I'm almost certain that it would leave a scar. I doubt you want one of those marring your pretty face."

Sirius grinned, stepping closer to her. He was almost certain that he had her now. "Oh? So you think my face is pretty?"

Briar frowned, clearly uncomfortable. She stepped away from him, and Sirius almost laughed at how easy it was to distract her. "What? No, it's just... it's just generally accepted that-"

"That I'm handsome?"

"No, I believe I said pretty."

Sirius took a step closer to her. Briar was starting to look panicked now, and she was biting her lip furiously. His dark grey eyes were far too close to her own for comfort. "Handsome, pretty, same thing. The point is, you think I'm good-looking. Is that why you get so shy when I'm close to you?"

"I-I don't get shy when-"

"I see you haven't stopped lying to yourself."

Briar's eyes darkened, and she took a deep breath before shoving him away from her. He stumbled back a few steps in surprise, but she was determined not to let him closer. "You can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Doing.. what you just did now! Invading my personal space! It's extremely disturbing, not to mention rude, and you need to stop. And while you're at it, you can stop judging me all the time as well."

Sirius smiled. "Judging you? All I said was that you lie to yourself, and it's true. You tell yourself that you're a perfect obedient little Slytherin, but you're not. If you ask me, I think you're a bit of a rebel, you just haven't accepted it yet."

Briar stared at him. "Rebel?"

"Don't act so surprised, D'Alessio. Your father told you, rather clearly, that you weren't supposed to speak to me ever again. And what are you doing right now?" Sirius argued.

"That doesn't count. He only said that because he thought there was something going on between us, and as it's obvious that there isn't anything-"

"Isn't there? I thought we already established that we fancy each other."

"That was a joke!" Briar retorted, angrily. "I apologize if you got your hopes up, but I wouldn't be caught dead fancying the likes of you!"

There was a moment of silence, and Sirius stared at her, his warm grey eyes suddenly turning colder. "The likes of me. A blood traitor, you mean?"

Briar sighed. "That's not what I meant. It slipped out."

"That's exactly what you meant. And you're right. I did get my hopes up that you weren't like the rest of your family, but it seems I was wrong. What happened to understanding what I did?"

"I do understand what you did! There you go again, Black, you're judging me for something that I didn't even mean! Can't you just... leave me alone? Some people don't like it when their every word is analyzed by other people, all right?"

Sirius frowned. "Fine."

"Fine?"

"Yeah, all right. Go ahead, say whatever you want. I'm not going to analyze you."

Sirius looked down at Briar as she watched him, her blue-grey eyes looking both confused and hurt. After a moment, she slowly took a step back, and turned around, walking away from him. Sirius sighed.

Well. At least she'd forgotten about the Hospital Wing.

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Briar had just gathered her things and was exiting the Slytherin common room that morning, when she came face-to-face with Rabastan Lestrange. She was tired and frustrated, and in no mood to deal with him. Rabastan smiled at her in greeting, and she gave him a weak smile back.

"Briar, I've been looking for you. Lucius wanted to see you in the Hospital Wing," he told her. Briar frowned, feeling a sudden burst of irritation.

"Does he, now? How interesting," she muttered coldly. Rabastan looked surprised at her iciness.

"Pardon?"

"You're welcome to tell my dear cousin that I'm not a house elf to be summoned at his will. I'm busy, and if I feel like it, I might go down and see him when I have the time. He needn't wait up."

Rabastan frowned at her. "What is wrong with you? You never used to speak so rudely. I've noticed a rather drastic change in your behavior recently, Briar, and I must say that I'm-"

Briar rolled her eyes. "Spare me the lecture. I have work to do. You're blocking the entryway."

She shoved past him with her armful of parchment, and slid out of the Slytherin common room, not bothering to look back. She had enough on her mind without Rabastan Lestrange admonishing her for her behavior.

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"I heard that you're the reason Bellatrix has detention for the rest of the school year."

            Briar glanced up, and saw that Andromeda Black had slid into the seat beside her at lunch that afternoon. Briar was sitting further away from the rest of the Slytherins, mainly because she hadn't stopped receiving the dark looks yet. She rolled her eyes.

          "I'm sorry, but I won't apologize for getting her in trouble. She deserved it."

        "I don't doubt that. You don't mind me joining you for lunch, do you?"

          "No, but it's at your own risk. Gemma made it rather clear this morning that she couldn't be seen talking to me for the next few days unless she wanted to be detested by the rest of our house as well."

           Andromeda shrugged. "Well, I never liked that Gemma girl much anyway, though she's one to be talking. She went out with McLaggen in fifth year. You know, the Gryffindor? I caught them, and she made me swear not to tell anyone."

        Briar rolled her eyes. "I'm not surprised."

"You seem rather bitter this morning."

"I just had a rough night."

Andromeda nodded. "I don't suppose it was anything to do with my cousin?"

Briar whipped her head around to look at Andromeda, startled. "Why would you think it had anything to do with Sirius Black? Has he said something?"

"He says plenty of things, not all of which are to do with you. I hope you don't take him too seriously. Sirius likes thinking that he knows other people better than he really does, and it gets him into sticky situations sometimes."

"I've noticed. I just don't understand him. I've been calling him a blood traitor for months, but somehow he got really upset last night."

Andromeda gave Briar a long, searching look. There was a pause as the two girls ate, and then Andromeda spoke up again.

"Narcissa is worried about Lucius," she commented.

"Of course she is. He nearly had his leg hacked off by one of his best friends."

"No, she thinks he's been acting oddly. I remember you saying something similar. Did you ever find out what was wrong with him?"

Briar frowned. "I tried, but he wouldn't tell me much. We haven't been on the best of terms lately; all our conversation seem to turn into arguments. Why? Has she noticed anything unusual?"

"She thinks that he keeps getting letters, and they seem to upset him. She's not sure who they're from. I'm worried about her, she really looks up to him."

"I'll go visit Lucius this afternoon, and try to ask him a few questions."

Andromeda nodded. "Thank you. How is your own family doing? I hear that your brother is getting married this summer. I suppose you'll be one of the bridesmaids?"

Briar sighed. "Yes. I'm a little tired of talking about the event, to be honest. I have half a mind to just run off for the day and skip the entire wedding. No doubt my parents will use the occasion to find me a fiancée."

Andromeda looked at Briar curiously. "And suppose they did? Would you marry him?"

Briar frowned. "Well... I mean, there would be a long engagement, I expect, they won't marry me off while I'm still in Hogwarts, but-"

"But you will marry him, eventually? The man that your parents choose for you?"

"I... I suppose I trust their decision. They'd want me to be happy, I'm sure he won't be a complete troll."

Andromeda nodded thoughtfully. She didn't say anything, however, and Briar felt disturbed. The expression on Andromeda's face was too similar to the one Sirius had when he was judging her every move. She frowned.

        "Why are you asking me this?"

           "I don't know. Just curious, I suppose."

          Briar nodded, but she didn't feel satisfied.

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             When Briar entered the Hospital Wing later that afternoon to visit Lucius, she noticed that Remus Lupin was lying on one of the beds. Madame Pomfrey was fussing over him, and neither of them really noticed her as she slipped past them to the smaller room where Lucius was currently healing.

          "There you are. I asked to speak to you this morning, where were you?" Lucius demanded, as she entered the room. She forced herself to calm down. She wasn't going to get angry at her cousin.

       "I was busy. What did you need to speak to me about?"

          Lucius frowned at her. His leg was still wrapped in a cast, but most of the color had returned to his face since the last time she saw him. He looked rather well. "I need you to talk to Narcissa. Tell her to leave me alone for a while, she's been bothering me."

          Briar looked at him incredulously. "She's worried about you, from what I've heard. Lucius, I refuse to let you mistreat Narcissa Black. She's a very sweet girl, and you're lucky to have her."

           Lucius's expression softened slightly. "I know. She's just been asking too many questions, and I don't know how to answer them."

          "How about honestly?"

           Lucius made a face. "I can't. I'm not allowed to speak about it, and I certainly wouldn't tell her, anyway. She tells her sister everything."

         "Andromeda?"

         "Bellatrix."

         "Ah. The one who's been making my life miserable for the past few days."

           Lucius sighed. "I heard about that. I spoke to Bellatrix this morning, and she's promised to stop spreading whatever she's been spreading about you. It'll all stop by tomorrow, I promise. I'm sorry you had to go through that at all."

       Briar's anger died down softly. She hadn't expected that he would do something like that for her. "Erm, thank you. Since when does Bellatrix Black listen to you, anyway?"

          "Since I've been highly favored by... it doesn't matter. She'll stop doing it, that's what's important. Will you or will you not say something to make Narcissa stop worrying about me?"

         Briar shook her head. "I won't. I'm grateful that you spoke to Bellatrix, but I'm not going to lie for you. I can't reassure Narcissa Black that everything is all right when I'm not sure it is. Won't you tell me what's wrong?"

         Lucius glared at her. "We've spoken about this before, Briar, I can't-"

         "No, we haven't. Tell me what it is that's troubling you so much, and maybe I'll handle Narcissa for you."

           Lucius was silent. He turned his head towards the window and gazed out of it, ignoring her. Briar refused to give up. "Is it something to do with your father? Has Uncle Abraxas said something to you, or is he expecting you to do something?"

          Lucius didn't say anything. He didn't turn to look at her either, but Briar pressed on. "Is it something dangerous? Why can't you tell me?"

          "Your father would be furious with me if I told you."

        Briar sighed. "What is he trying to hide from me? Lucius, please. If my father is involved in this, then that's all the more reason for me to know. I'm not a child, you know that. How is it that everyone seems to know something I don't? Why is it that you'll talk to my brother but not me?"

           Lucius's face turned white. "He told you that?"

        "Lorcan said you've been writing to him. You never did before."

        "He understands what it's like."

        "What what's like?"

         "Briar, I can't. Your father will kill me-"

              "I won't tell him! I'm not like you Lucius, I won't go running to my parents for every small thing that happens!" Briar insisted angrily.

              There was a pause, while Lucius Malfoy stared down at the white sheets that covered the Hospital Wing beds. Briar watched as a battle raged behind his eyes, she could almost hear him arguing with himself. She waited patiently, before his eyes snapped up with a sudden ferocity.

           "Shut the door."

            Briar stared at him. "Pardon?"

            "Bloody hell, shut the door! I can't risk us being overheard."

           Briar obeyed, quickly walking over to the door of Lucius's room and shutting it. She twisted the lock, and then came back and sat down in the chair beside the bed.

          "Promise me you won't scream."

         "What?"

        "Promise me!"

         Briar nodded, feeling worried now. "I promise."

          Lucius nodded, taking a deep breath. Then he pulled his left arm out from under the sheet, covered by the long white sleeve of the loose shirt he was wearing. Briar watched, in silent horror, as he ripped the sleeve up and held out his forearm to her.

         Briar only wished she could scream.

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double update yay, idk if anyone even got the notifications but hope y'all enjoy it :)
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